Following the Supreme Court’s landmark July 2024 judgement which implemented local government’s autonomy and declared state control over local government funds unconstitutional, the federal government has revealed that the 774 LG councils across Nigeria will receive their allocations directly from the Federal Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) by the end of January 2025.
This was disclosed by Sunday Dare, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, during an interview on Arise News on Thursday night. He reiterated President Tinubu’s unwavering commitment to upholding the Supreme Court’s verdict.
He added that the full implementation had been delayed to ensure proper mechanisms were in place. Dare confirmed that these arrangements are now complete, paving the way for local governments to start receiving funds directly from the Federal Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) by the end of January 2025.
“We have a President who ensures local government autonomy. I spoke to a local government chairman, who said, ‘Oh, I will be getting N2.9bn, instead of the N200m I was getting before. From the end of this month, LG will receive the money directly,” Dare said during the interview.
The president’s adviser also reiterated the need for proper scrutiny and monitoring of both state and local government financial management to ensure that their tendencies to misappropriate funds are curtailed.
“One state collected N499 billion last year—nearly four times its previous allocation—yet there’s little to show for it,” he noted.
Adding that eyes should not be on federal government alone, as the FG has often faced enormous criticism while the state and local government most times fail to utilize resources at their disposal judiciously without been held accountable.
“The framers of our constitution created the three tiers of government for a reason. It’s time to hold states and local governments accountable,” Dare added.
